In the electrical utilities industry, maintaining cable integrity may be critical. A loss of cable integrity, for example, a short circuit in a high voltage cable, may result in a crippling power outage or, even worse, a loss of life. One everyday task that may pose a great threat to cable integrity is the formation of electrical connections.
When electrical connections are formed, a bare metal surface may be exposed such as a splice connector. These bare metal surfaces may be particularly hazardous when formed in the field where they are exposed to the environment. This environment may include rocks and other sharp objects as well as moisture when the connection is to be buried under ground and rainfall when the connection is to be suspended in the air. Thus, there is a need to protect such electrical connections from the environment.
It is a known practice in the electrical utilities industry to use mastic sealant tape as a substrate for EPDM seal tubes as part of cable preparation prior to collapsing the cold applied EPDM seal via a spiral holdout. Mastic seals discontinuities on the surface of the cable and joint and also serves as a better adhesive for the EPDM tube to adhere. However, some installation issues may occur with the use of spiral holdouts in that the rip cord of the spiral holdout damages the mastic bead as the installer unravels it to apply the EPDM seal tube. That is, the rip cord itself comes in contact with the mastic, which in turn adheres to the rip cord, and then the mastic gets removed from surface, which compromises the seal.
Some known solutions to this problem involve the use of electrical tape. Electrical tape is applied to the mastic in an attempt to protect the surface of the mastic and prevent the rip cord of the spiral holdout from contacting the mastic outer surface, thus aiding the subsequent installation of the EPDM tube. In practice however, the electrical tape covers a portion of the mastic prohibiting the adhesion of the entire width of the mastic to the EPDM seal tube, decreasing the effective seal of the mastic-EPDM interface. Furthermore, the installer often has to determine how much of the electrical tape to use to prevent the spiral holdout from contacting the mastic. Additionally, if too much tension is applied to the electrical tape, it displaces (squeezes) the mastic and creates another mastic catch point for the rip cord at the trail edge of the electrical tape.